


Falling Angel

by Kerry_0506



Category: Hot Fuzz (2007)
Genre: Abduction, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-07
Updated: 2012-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-29 03:06:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerry_0506/pseuds/Kerry_0506
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Once I reach Sandford, he thought, Angel won't know what hit him." When an old nemesis returns & Nicholas doesn't turn up for work, Danny knows something is up. Can he figure it all out before it's too late? Or will Sandford see its Angel fall?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Returning

He crouched in the bushes waiting for the sound of sirens to disappear. Knee deep in mud and rain, he watched the police cars drive past, not unlike the ones he knew so well. He smiled when he remained unnoticed. Looking down at his, now healed, right arm, he remembered the man who had ultimately been responsible for the injury. That blonde lad deserved to pay for what he did.

Once he was sure that the sirens were gone, he rose to his wary feet and began to make his way to the road. It was rather late, which made it easy for him to pass through the streets unseen. Wandering along the wet pavement, he reached a shop. The owner was inside and appeared to be preparing for closure. Perfect. Approaching the door, he pushed it open, causing a small ringing sound to echo through the store.

"Sorry, we're closed." The owner said, without looking up. Footsteps got closer to him and he sighed. "Look, sir, I'm sorry but…" as he looked up, a fist connected with the underside of his jaw, sending him tumbling backwards into the wall. He slid down and collapsed in a heap. His attacker smirked when the owner did not recover from the blow and set about collecting what he needed. He grabbed a shirt, a pair of jeans and a jacket and quickly got changed before grabbing the unconscious shopkeeper's car keys and exiting the building. Climbing into the car, he turned on the engine and began the long drive to Sandford.

 _Once I reach Sandford, _he thought, _Angel won't know what hit him. _____

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Danny sighed. "What a day."

"Most certainly. Fancy a beer?" Nicholas asked.

"I thought you'd never ask." Danny smirked.

For the past year, the local pub had been run by a new couple. John and Maggie Wood were very welcoming and were clear of any murderous tendencies that their predecessors had held. Ever since the NWA had been taken down, Sandford had regained its beauty and was the best village in the eyes of the community.

"Ah, Inspector Angel. Sergeant Butterman."

"Evening John." Nicholas smiled.

"What can I get you boys?"

"Two pints of lager please." Danny nodded at John and leaned on the bar. Once they had paid for their drinks, they headed over to their usual spot.

"How you holding up, Danny?" Nicholas asked softly.

"I'm alright, considering." Danny traced the rim of his glass with his finger. It was the first anniversary of the incident that saw Frank Butterman and half of Sandford imprisoned, not to mention Danny hospitalised after saving his friend's life.

Nicholas gave a small smile. The life Danny had known had disappeared that day and he was a changed man. Since becoming Sandford's sergeant, he had become a tougher police officer. The events of that day made Danny realise that he really could be a great officer.

"How about you?" Danny asked after a brief moment of silence had taken over them. Danny knew that, despite being shot, he hadn't been the only one scarred, both physically and emotionally. Nicholas had been involved in a gunfight that far out scaled any Danny had seen in his DVD collection. He had been shot in the arm, thrown through a window, beaten up several times and as if that wasn't enough, he watched Danny take a bullet for him. Then, to top it all off, he had been caught in a huge explosion that left all the members of the Sandford Police Service injured. Doris fractured a rib, both the Andy's had to be stitched up, even Saxon need his paw seeing to. But Nicholas had ignored the throbbing of his broken wrist and the dizziness and nausea caused by his severe concussion in order to run to Danny's aid.

Seeing his friend, his brother, torn up like that had hit Nicholas pretty hard and he had vowed to ensure that nothing would ever happen to Danny again.

Nicholas smiled at Danny. "I'm ok."

"You sure?" Danny questioned.

"I'm always ok."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

It was midnight before the pair left. Despite succumbing to the odd beer, Nicholas had stuck with his cranberry juice due to an early start the next morning. This meant that he could help his friend stagger home without either of them being introduced to the pavement.

"G'night Nick." Danny slurred as he struggled to find the keyhole.

"Goodnight Danny." Nicholas couldn't resist a quiet laugh and once his partner was inside, he wandered back to his cottage. He took his time as he walked, looking up at the stars. He still remembered looking that same view a year earlier, when he had been stuffed in the trunk of Danny's car. When the then constable had opened the boot, Nicholas recalled focusing his eyes on the stars behind the other man in order to maintain the illusion of being dead.

Sighing, Nicholas made his way up the path to the front door. Stepping inside, he swung the door closed and threw his keys on the table. He began for a light switch but something stopped him in his tracks.

"Hello Nicholas." A menacingly familiar voice from behind him made the Inspector freeze. He slowly turned around and, in the dim moonlight, he saw a pair of eyes glistening a few feet away. Eyes he had never wanted to see again.

"You…" Nicholas began. He reached for something; he wasn't sure what exactly, but something that might fight off the unwelcome intruder. His hands wrapped around an umbrella standing by the door, however he wasn't quick enough.

He felt the pain of his own firearm being brought down on his forehead and fell to his knees, dragging half the items off the side table with him. He looked up at his old foe.

"Sweet dreams, Nicholas."

A sudden kick to the face sent the younger man spiraling into oblivion.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o


	2. The Blame Game

Nicholas stumbled across the scattered remains of the Sandford Police station.

"Danny!" he cried, trying to ignore the pain searing through his body. "Danny!"

Then he saw him.

Lying amongst the rubble, covered in blood, was Danny. This time, however, his friend wasn't moving. Or breathing.

"Danny, no!" grabbing his partner's hand, Nicholas began to cry.

"I win." A voice came from behind.

Nicholas spun to see Frank Butterman pointing a gun at his head. He closed his eyes and waited for his fate.

He waited.

And waited.

But nothing happened. He decided to open his eyes again, however when he did, he was no longer where he had been. He looked around to see the recognisable surroundings of the castle. He was sitting on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back and his feet tied together; he also had a piece of cloth shoved in his mouth. He looked around for something sharp to use to cut himself free.

 _Come on, Nicholas, pull yourself together. _He began to move himself in an attempt to find a way out.__

Suddenly, two rough hands grabbed his shoulders.

"Oh no you don't."

He felt himself pulled back to his initial position and looked up to find himself staring into Frank's eyes. The evil he saw in them made Nicholas sick to his stomach.

 _What the hell does he want with me? _Nicholas wished he didn't have the gag on so he could ask him himself; however he feared that he already knew the answer. He guessed that Frank had escaped prison and now wanted to exact some sort of revenge on him for what happened a year earlier. He shifted in his spot, the position Frank had placed him in was causing his whole body to ache.__

"So, Nicholas. How have you been?" Frank paced in front of his captive, tauntingly playing with the gun he was holding. "Oh, wait sorry I forgot you can't talk can you. Well let me tell you how I've been holding up. Prison is not a hotel, Nicholas. It's not an easy ride. Certainly not a place for an upstanding police officer like myself." Had Nicholas not been wearing the gag, he wouldn't have been able to hold back a scoff. "I don't belong there."

 _And you'll be heading right back there for kidnapping a police officer when they catch you. _Nicholas thought to himself.__

"It's your fault I ended up there, Nicholas."

 _No, it's your own fault for having a murderous obsession. ___

"You took away my village. My friends. Worst of all, you turned my own son against me." With those words, Frank swung the gun down against Nicholas' already throbbing head, causing the younger man's world to spin. Nicholas groaned, attempting to fight the nausea and control his breathing. Through his blurred vision, he looked up to see the sky beginning to lighten. The other officers would be at the station shortly and he hoped that they would realise pretty quick that something wasn't right when the usually anal officer failed to turn up for work on time.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"Mornin' Danny." Doris stood up as the sergeant arrived. "You haven't seen Angel this morning?"

Danny looked at his watch; it was well past Nicholas' start time. "You mean he's not in yet?" That was strange. Maybe he had let himself have a lie in for once; he was always running himself into the ground. "Well, I say give him another hour. If he's not in by then I'll pop round." Doris nodded and Danny went through to his desk. As he sat down to his chair, he thought to himself. Despite not portraying any concern to Doris, he was slightly confused by Nicholas' absence. It really wasn't like him. He decided to give his friend a call; if he was sleeping in, he would be rather annoyed if Danny didn't give him a wake-up call.

 _"This is the voicemail of Inspector Nicholas Angel. I'm afraid I cannot take your call right now. If it is an emergency, please contact the Sandford Police station." ___

The beep sounded, however Danny decided against leaving a message. Instead he made the choice to pay Nicholas a visit.

"I'll be back shortly." Danny said to Doris, heading for the door.

"Danny!" two voices shouted from behind him. He turned to see the Andy's jogging down the hall towards him.

"Yeah?"

"We just got a call from the Met." Cartwright splurted.

"And?"

"Word has it that your dad escaped from prison."

Danny felt his heart sink. "What?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You are pulling my leg."

"Wish we were, Danny." Wainwright responded.

The sergeant nodded, his stomach turning. "I better go get Nicholas. We'll need all hands on deck in case he comes back to Sandford."


	3. Keeping the Faith

Nicholas sighed. His wrists were beginning to bleed as the cuffs dug into the skin and his head felt like it was about to explode. His eyes wanted to close so badly, but he refused to let sleep take hold. He wanted to keep his eyes on Frank at all times, worried that the second unconsciousness came, the older man would do something. A few moments earlier, Nicholas had heard his mobile ringing. Frank had picked it up and ended the call.

"Sorry Danny." He said to the device in his hand. "This business is no concern of yours." Nicholas mumbled something in return. "I'm sorry, Nicholas, what was that you said? I can't quite hear you." Frank mockingly said, briefly pulling the gag from the Inspector's mouth in order to hear the retort.

"I said it won't be long before they realise I'm missing. Danny knows me well enough to…" before he could finish, the gag was forced back into his mouth and he fell victim to silence once again. He couldn't understand why Frank didn't feel threatened by this. Surely the events of that day had proved to Frank that his son was not as blind and submissive as he thought. Danny was a great officer and Nicholas was sure that before long, and before anything else happened, he would put two and two together. He watched as Frank placed the gun on the concrete table, which Nicholas remembered all too well, and began to play with a blade.

Nicholas may not have been a man of God, but he felt himself praying that his threat to Frank was right, and that Danny would soon find him.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Danny almost jogged to Nicholas' cottage and was relieved to see his friend's car outside. He must have been really exhausted but as much as Danny wanted to let him sleep, their Inspector was needed. Approaching the door, he gave a knock.

Silence.

 _Knock. Knock. ___

More silence.

"Nicholas? You in there?" he peered through the window at the front of the house, but there was no sign of anyone. "Nick?" he decided to try the handle. To his surprise, it turned and the door swung open.

"Nicholas?" Danny was more wary as he spoke this time. He stepped inside the door and looked around, hoping that his friend would descend from his bedroom momentarily. He felt his boot touch something and he looked down to see a vase lying on the floor. Bending down to return it to its position, he noticed a few other items strewn across the floor nearby. Some papers, a glass, the house telephone…

 _This does not look good. _Danny thought.__

He then noticed the tiniest drop of blood on the carpet.

He was right. This was definitely not good.

The silence was broken by his mobile beginning to ring.

"Andy, what have you got?"

"Bad news, Danny. A man of your dad's description reportedly stole a car the night before last and the judging by the tracking of the GPS, he's heading this way. He's coming back to Sandford."

"No he's not." Danny said, his voice vacant of all emotion. "He's already here."


	4. Idea

"What do you mean he's already here?"

"I mean he's a lot quicker than we thought." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, how do you know?"

"Because Nicholas is missing." Danny heard murmuring in the background of the call as Andy told the rest of the officers.

"You sure?" Andy asked, clearly wishing that Danny was mistaken. The two detectives may have disliked Angel initially, however after the NWA fiasco, the trio had become quite close. He put the phone on speaker so that everyone could hear. "I mean, couldn't he have popped to the shop or something on his way to work?"

"I don't think so." Danny looked around again. "Things have been knocked over, it kinda looks like a struggle. And…" he hated to say it out loud but knew it was necessary information. "And there's some blood."

"Jesus…" Danny heard Andy's sharp intake of breath at those words. "Can you think of anywhere that your dad might have gone? Do you think he would have left Sandford?"

Danny thought for a moment. "I don't think so…"

"You 100% sure?" Andy replied. "Because if it turns out he has, the longer we leave it, the further away he gets."

"It just feels like it's not just a vendetta against Nicholas… I'm thinking maybe he's taken him and once he's out of the way, he's got something else up his sleeve… I know my dad, he won't stop there."

"Alright, so say he's still here. Where would he take Nicholas?" Doris joined the conversation.

"It would have to be somewhere private." Tony spoke up. "He wouldn't take him somewhere that people could see him."

"No, dad's mind doesn't work like that." Danny began to strain his mind in an attempt to think of where he could have gone. Then it hit him. "I've got it."

"What?" everyone was on the edge of their seats.

"The castle."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Nicholas had spent the last half hour wriggling his ankles as subtly as he could in an effort to free them. Frank wandered around in front of him; every now and then he would babble on about something that he hated the officer for, before delivering a punch or kick to him. The last attack had left him lying on his side.

This gave him an idea.

He bent his knees and brought his feet up to his backside. He closed his eyes to help him concentrate, but to also give the illusion that he had passed out. Once he felt his fingers make contact with the ropes around his ankles, he went to work. Fiddling with the knot, pulling here, tugging there, he tried with all his might to loosen his bonds.

Suddenly, he felt them give a little. His heart leapt, however he kept quiet so that he didn't alert Frank. He continued his attempts and after a few moments, the ropes fell to the ground. He spent a few seconds preparing himself before making his move.

He began to shuffle in his spot, deliberately making small grunting noises to catch Frank's attention.

"What are you doing now, Nicholas?" Frank shook his head and approached. Perfect. He grabbed him by the arms and as he pulled him up, the younger man seized the moment. Bringing his legs around in front of him, he kicked out at his captor, causing him to stumble backwards, hit the concrete table and fall to the ground. Nicholas raced to his feet and charged at Frank, who was also getting up as quickly as possible. Nicholas rammed the other man, pushing him back into the table again, and head-butted him. As Frank's knees gave out, Nicholas turned and began to run, but he didn't expect the older man to recover as fast as he did, and soon found himself tackled to the ground. He landed on his stomach, but was quickly flipped onto his back and felt his jaw snap back as Frank's fist connected with it. He struggled against the man who was straddling his stomach, trying his best to fight back; however having his hands cuffed behind his back was proving very difficult. As the punches continued to fly, he started to wonder was this it?

He could hear unconsciousness calling his name. Feel it tugging at the edge of his senses. His eye lids were beginning to feel heavy and he knew it wouldn't be long before he gave in to the appealing lure of sleep. He continued to struggle despite feeling his limbs becoming weaker.

Suddenly, there was a shout from behind him and he was pulled to his feet.


	5. Deja Vu

Danny rushed up to the castle; he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this amount of fear. His mind was muddled at the thoughts running through it, he couldn't think straight, however his feet knew where to take him. He wondered if this was the feeling that Nicholas had as he ran up to find the NWA a year ago. He saw the castle getting closer and he felt his stomach turn – what if they were too late? As he reached the gate, the rest of the group arrived.

"How d'ya wanna work this, Danny?" Wainwright said as he jumped from the car.

"Alright, let me go in first, let me talk to him."

"Danny, do you _really _think you're dad's gonna be in the mood to talk about things?" Doris asked. "Something tells me he ain't gonna go down without a fight."__

"I agree." Cartwright added. "You go in there alone, it's suicide."

"Alright, alright." Danny took in a deep breath and then decided. "Ok, I go in at the front. You all stay behind. I just want it to be me doing the talking." _And the shooting. _He thought back on the last time he'd seen his dad. He had had the opportunity to shoot him, he was right there, but something changed his mind about it. He didn't have it in him to kill someone. But he had to convince himself that he could this time. Nicholas' life depended on it.__

The group prepared themselves for the situation they faced and headed silently into the castle grounds. As they crept closer, they heard noises coming from ahead. It sounded like a scuffle. Danny picked up his pace and peered around a corner. He saw Nicholas lying on his back with Frank on top of him, delivering punch after punch to his friend's face. Nicholas wasn't moving much. Danny knew he had to do something.

"STOP!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, running out into the open and pointing his gun in his father's direction. He watched as Frank stopped his attack and paused, looking up at his son with a terrifying smirk on his face. He saw Frank grab Nicholas by the scruff of his jacket and pulled him to his feet. He spun him around, bringing him in close and placing a knife to his throat.

It felt like a complete reversal of the previous years events – last time, Danny had been the one in Frank's grasp. Danny looked at his best friend and felt sick. Nicholas' nose was bleeding, blood poured from the gashes on his forehead and neck and a line of red was drawn from his lip to his chin. His hands bound behind him, a gag in his mouth, he looked exhausted; like if Frank was to let go, his legs would just give way and he would collapse into a heap on the gravel. He then looked at his dad. It had been a year since Danny had spoken to or seen him and he could not put a name on what exactly he felt at that moment. But he could say for sure it wasn't happiness.

"Hello there Danny. Nice of you to join us." He smiled before continuing. "Ah it's just like old times isn't it? You remember that day, don't you Nicholas?" he looked at his captive, growling into his ear. "We all thought you'd died that day – twice! But you proved us wrong when your tenacious self came back and destroyed my village."

"You destroyed the village yourself, Frank." Danny spoke up. The lack of 'dad' in his sentence threw Frank. He dragged his eyes from Nicholas to his son.

"So…" he shifted the knifes position on Nicholas' neck and the younger man felt it dig into his skin. He tried to suppress a groan but it didn't work. "What's wrong Danny? I'm still your father. You can't get away from that."

"Maybe…" Danny didn't let his aim move as he spoke. "But you're not my dad anymore."

"What are you going to do, Danny? Shoot me? You don't have it in you. You didn't last time."

"Yeah? Well a lot of things have changed around here since you've been gone."

"Have they now?" Frank gave a laugh, glancing at the other officers that surrounded Danny. "Well one last thing is about to change before I'm done here. And that's the fact that Nicholas here is never going to see the light of day again." His grip on the knife tightened.

Danny pulled the trigger.

Two bodies fell to the ground.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Danny watched his father fall to the ground. He did it. He killed someone. Not only that, but it had been his own father. He couldn't believe it. The shock was slowly beginning to take over, but he shook himself – there was plenty of time for looking back on that moment, right now he needed to see if his partner was ok. Before he knew it, he was running over to Nicholas, who was lying on the ground motionless.

"Nicholas!" as he bent down next to his friend, he felt a strong feeling of déjà vu. His mind replayed the moment when Reverend Shooter pulled out his guns and fired two bullets into Nicholas' chest. As Danny had bent next to him, he had feared the worst, but when he saw Nicholas open his jacket to reveal a vest protecting him, he felt such relief. Thankfully, as he rolled Frank's lifeless body off Nicholas and turned him over, that relief was repeated. Nicholas' eyes, despite being glazed over, were open and he was breathing heavily. He had a small red mark where the knife had almost broke the skin but other than the cuts and bruises sustained earlier, Danny was relieved to see that his best friend was ok. "It's alright Nicholas. Everything's gonna be fine. It's gonna be just fine, ok?"

Nicholas heard Danny say those words and gave a weak smile. He remembered saying those exact words to his partner after the explosion. Those words had been said and Danny had been fine, maybe they would have the same result for him. Nicholas looked up at his friend and nodded gently. Danny knew this was his way of saying 'thank you' and he smiled back, watching Nicholas' eyes close. Nicholas let himself give in to the appeal of unconsciousness, knowing that he was safe in his friend's arms. He knew that this time, he could fall asleep and have no worry of what would happen after, as he knew that when he woke, the nightmare would be over.


	6. Epilogue: Second Most Painful

_**3 weeks later _ ****_**_

"Knock knock!" Danny opened the door to Nicholas' cottage.

"Hi Da…mmpphh…"

"Nicholas?" Danny rushed through the house to the kitchen. "Nicholas!" he turned the corner and sighed with relief when he saw Nicholas standing next to the sink. He was holding his side and grimacing in pain. "What did you try to do this time?"

"Coffee… Mug… Too high… Ow…." He pointed to the blue mug in the cupboard high up on the wall. "Second most painful. Yep… Second most painful."

"Oh Nicholas…" Danny shook his head, walking to the cupboard and grabbing the mug before placing it on the counter. He glanced at the Inspector and couldn't resist letting out a chuckle. "What did the doctor tell you?" Nicholas looked at him and sulked a bit, not helping to control the fit of giggles Danny was trying so hard to keep in. "Come on, Nick." He liked getting to be the 'doctor' this time, just like Nicholas had done for him the year before.

"No strenuous exercise."

"Exactly. Even though that rib should be healing nicely by now, you still shouldn't do too much."

"You might as well just cut my hands off." Nicholas dropped into the nearest chair with an exasperated sigh. "I don't even see how making coffee could be classified as 'strenuous exercise'."

Danny poured the water that Nicholas had already boiled into the mug and fixed up the coffee before pouring himself one and sitting next to his friend. "So how you doing?" he asked. It hadn't even been a month since his kidnapping, yet on the outside, Nicholas seemed to be doing extremely well. But Danny knew his partner better than anyone.

"Fine, honestly." Nicholas took a sip from his coffee, avoiding eye contact as he did so.

"Ok, now the truth." Nicholas lifted his eyes to see his friend staring at him with that kind yet intense look. He sighed and placed his mug on the table.

"It's been a rough few weeks, Danny. I mean, it's just not something that I can move on from quickly. But I always like to try and get on with things after, you know, bad situations. Like when Janine and I split up." He began tracing the rim of his mug with his index finger. "I don't usually discuss this, but a few years ago, well more than a few, when I was still in London, I was on a disturbance call. My partner and I went into the building to see what the problem was and out of nowhere, this young guy, probably in his early twenties, jumped me. He had a carving knife in his hand."

"Oh my God…" Danny couldn't believe it. What was it with people attacking Nicholas with knives? He shifted in his seat, waiting anxiously for his friend to go on.

"He was practically on top of me and I kept trying to get him off, but he wouldn't budge. My partner was trying to stop him, he had his gun on him but couldn't get a clear shot. I remember him catching my shoulder with the blade, the pain was awful." At that moment, Nicholas reached across and lifted the sleeve of his t-shirt up, revealing a nasty looking scar across his left shoulder. Danny flinched at the sight of it.

"What happened?"

"Eventually, my partner managed to get him. Caught him in his shoulder with a bullet."

"An eye for an eye?"

Nicholas let out a slight scoff. "Yeah, you could say that. We made the arrest and he got done for attacking a police officer. The other officers at the Met were constantly asking me about it and after the thousandth time of relaying my story, I decided that I would never discuss situations like that with anyone. It made it harder for me to move on, you know?"

Danny nodded. "Look, Nicholas, I'm not gonna ask you to tell me what happened, I'm not gonna keep asking for all the details. But if you ever need to talk, vent, whatever; I'm here."

Nicholas smiled. Danny never ceased to amaze him at how much he'd changed. When they had first met, Danny had possessed an almost child-like level of naivety, yet after everything they went through, Nicholas watched his friend grow and mature. "Thanks, Danny. Really."

"Anyway, the other reason I came round was cos I brought you something."

"Really? You didn't have to."

"I know, but seeing as you've been cooked up for so long, I figured you might want something to take your mind off things." Danny lifted up the plastic bag and pulled out a DVD.

"Close Encounters of the… Third Kind?" Nicholas read the title and tilted his head at Danny. "What's that about?"

"You've GOT to be kidding me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also hope you guys don't mind me adding in that little bit of backstory for Nicholas there. The film alluded to two other injuries Nicholas had sustained in the line of duty, so I just threw one in there. Also hope that the characters were written ok.


End file.
